Circuit: The New Era
by ohmytimeturner
Summary: **NOTE: This fanfiction was partially created to stop/ decrease fan wars. As an EXO-L and an ARMY, I have seen a LOT of discourse between these two fandoms specifically and I would like it to stop. So please enjoy and all hate comments will be removed ASAP.
1. Prologue

**HIII!**

Prologue

Have you ever sat down and wondered, "If my friends and I were superheroes, what would happen?"

Probably not, but for the sake of keeping this story going, let's just say you have. This is the story of how a young genius made that happen. Not intentionally, of course, but it still happened.

Oh, and you can call me the narrator, by the way. If I feel like it, I might just tell you who I am. But, for now, let's begin...


	2. Chapter 1: The Big Day

_**Can I just say that writing on here is hard...**_

Namjoon looked at himself in the mirror. He ran his hands through his hair, a nervous habit of his. This was it. This was the day. The day all his hard work would pay off.

At age 15, Namjoon Kim had graduated high school. Since then, he had been preparing for this day. The day he would be able to earn his PhD. Now 23, Namjoon had created an anesthetic that could completely change the definition of anesthesiology. Today he would be testing that anesthetic in front of a council of scientists and the university's professors. The rest of his life depended on this anesthetic. Literally.

5 months ago, Namjoon had cracked the solution to the perfect anesthetic. An anesthetic that could numb even the strongest of pain. Theoretically, it should have a faster reaction than other anesthetics. It took the form of a small pill which could be injected into the bloodstream. The truly special thing about this anesthetic was the fact that the anesthetic didn't require a specific dosage to work. It adapted itself to the person's body type, giving the person exactly the right dosage as efficiently as possible. But he wasn't sure if he really had or not. He needed people to test on. No one in their right mind would've volunteered to test, or so he thought. He needed at least three successful tests. He got two people in the first week, which was two more than he thought would appear.

The first was a man by the name of Jungkook Jeon. According to him, he loved to volunteer for stuff, so he decided to volunteer for this experiment. Namjoon had a suspicion Jungkook thought this was a social experiment, not a scientific one. That's probably why he wrote 'Why do you need to know all this?' in the comments of the physical assessment form.

The next one was Seokjin Kim, or just Jin. Namjoon had met Jin a few times. Namjoon was working on this anesthetic with his best friend, also a young genius at the age of 24, Hoseok Jung. Jin was Hoseok's cousin, and they had met two or three times when Hoseok's _extremely_ rich parents threw one their monthly extravagant parties. Jin volunteered after Hoseok described his and Namjoon's situation. Namjoon knew Jin would trust Hoseok with his life, so he was sure to double and triple check the formula for the drug.

After that, Namjoon waited for a third volunteer, but none showed up. He decided to take matters into his own hands and volunteered himself. He couldn't let this fail after all the work he had done.

"You know you're the one being _tested_ on, not the one testing, right?" Yixing poked his head in through the bathroom door. Namjoon chuckled nervously. He wasn't sure what to think of his older brother's comment. Yixing gently pushed open the door and fixed Namjoon's tie, which Namjoon couldn't figure out how to tie.

"Still doesn't hurt to dress nice," Namjoon said, to which Yixing responded with, "You would think the person saying that knew how to tie a tie."

"Ties are overrated," Namjoon muttered, running his hand through his hair once again. Yixing laughs and shakes his head, then motions for Namjoon to follow him. Namjoon looks at himself in the mirror again and adjusts his glasses, then follows Yixing into the living room, where he was FaceTiming their parents.

"Yixing!" Their mother beamed at her older son's smiling face. Namjoon hurried over and said, "Don't forget me!" Mrs. Kim laughed and shook her head. Mrs. Kim was a lean woman, her hair still black and soft. According to the photos at their house and the stories of Mr. Kim, Mrs. Kim was even more beautiful in her youth than she was now.

Mr. Kim appeared in the background, with a giant pan in his hands. Mr. Kim was a man of pure happiness. Namjoon had very rarely seen his father sad or angry. He had laugh lines that Mrs. Kim claimed to be the best thing about him. He motioned to his wife and joked, "This is an outrage! Look at what your mother is making me do daily! Wash the dishes! Cook the food! She even made me go outside once! So much exercise! My heart can't take this!"

Namjoon laughed with Yixing and his mother.

"Good luck today, Joonie," Mrs. Kim said with tears in her eyes. Namjoon smiled and said, "Thank you. Now that I have your blessing, I know that nothing will go wrong."

After talking for a bit more, they ended the call. Namjoon looked at the clock, which read '10:27'. Namjoon jumped up, cursed loudly and grabbed his bag and shoes as he rushed out the door. The experiment was to be conducted at 10:35.

"Language!" Yixing called as Namjoon attempted to open the car. Namjoon rushed back the house and got the keys as he told Yixing that was an adult and that he could say what he wanted to. Yixing simply shook his head and muttered something about damn millennials.

Namjoon backed out of the driveway and said bye to his brother and started on the road to Liberty University.

Liberty City had gained fame in the past few years. Now it was a tourist attraction and Downtown Liberty was just crowded with shops and offices. The traffic was terrible. Namjoon was stuck for 15 minutes at one traffic light. By the time he reached the university's lab it was already 10:45. He could see Hoseok joking about him to the professors. The thought of Hoseok embarrassing him _again_ made him red. He entered the lab, and as soon as he did, the eyes of everyone in the room went straight to him. Namjoon ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry. Traffic."

One of the professors chuckled and said, "I was beginning to consider leaving, young man. Now please, present."

Namjoon bowed his head went over to Hoseok, who looked furious. He whispered angrily, "Where were you?!"

"I'm sorry! The traffic was insane!" Namjoon whispered back as he took off his coat. He handed Hoseok the files for the presentation and went to sit on a chair next to the other volunteers. He saw Jungkook and Jin already sitting on the special padded chairs. They were the chairs found at the dentist's, except with straps to hold them down in case they were afraid of needles.

Hoseok cleared his throat, took a deep breath and looked the professors in the eye, as if to show them that he was very confident, even if it wasn't true. In reality, Hoseok was terrified. He and Namjoon had been working on this anesthetic for almost two years now. With many, many, many failures, they had almost given up hope. He still remembered that night, crystal clear.

Hoseok and Namjoon were at Hoseok's place, after the 127th time they had failed to create an anesthetic that _didn't_ explode when it was poured into a syringe. It was cool the first three times, but after that it had gotten tiring and now it was just plain heartbreaking. Hoseok was lying on the sofa in the middle of Hoseok's room, a bottle of vodka in his hand, half of it empty. Namjoon was on the floor, his head in his hands. They had been like that for almost two hours now, with the occasional sounds of swishing liquid as Hoseok took another sip of the intoxicating beverage in his hand.

A tear rolled down his cheek. "Dad never believed in me. He still thinks I'm a failure," Hoseok chuckled softly, his words slurring slightly, "I guess he was right. I'm going too fast anyways, it's about time I stop. I mean, I still got a whole lot of money, right?"

Namjoon was dangerously quiet. He stayed silent, his head still in his hands as he thought about their results. What could _possibly_ have been wrong this time? What?

"Right, Namjoon? I mean, Dad hates me,but I'm still his son, plus, my sister's doing great in her fashion design class. I didn't even know you could take that in high school," Hoseok rambled on. (This was what he usually did when he was drunk,) "Her handwriting is really pretty too, she could be q calligraphy artist! Imagine, Da-Won Jung, fashionista by day, calligrapher by night." Hoseok started laughing.

Namjoon suddenly got up, startling Hoseok; his laughs went silent. Namjoon had a look in his eye, a look that Hoseok had learned to fear. Hoseok put the bottle of vodka down and shakily got up.

"No, no, no. I know that look. That's bad. For you and me. Look, maybe it's time you go home…" Hoseok went to the door to call the butler, when Namjoon said, "I told Yixing I'm staying here for the night, and you know how mad he gets when I come home late."

Hoseok shuddered and nodded. It was terrifying how much anger was nestled in Yixing. Hoseok picked up the bottle from the floor and started walking towards his bedroom, "You know where the things are, just make a bed on the sofa, you know the drill."

Namjoon shook his head and said, "Nope. Tonight, it's just you and me, bro-ham."

Hoseok cringed and stopped, halfway through the doorway to his room, "Please never address me as 'bro-ham' ever again. Please."

Namjoon chuckled and said, "You got it, buddy." Hoseok rolled his eyes. Namjoon took out his notes from his bag and arranged them on the floor, studying them intently as Hoseok yawned.

"You know, I'm drunk, so it's not the best idea to-"

"It's fine, you don't seem that drunk anyways."

"Hey, you don't know that, maybe I'm just a good actor."

At this, Namjoon laughed, "Yeah, right."

Hoseok cleared his throat and clicked a button on his laptop, which pulled up their presentation. In bold letters, the screen announced the anesthesia, and Hoseok began,

"Ladies and gentleman, for many years doctors have had to use different amounts, different types and different dosages of anesthesia on patients, wasting time on critical surgeries. There also have been cases where the anesthetic simply was not powerful enough, where the patient died from not being able to tolerate the pain. Sometimes the anesthetic was _too_ powerful, leading the patient into a coma, or worse, death.

"But no longer, dear sirs and ma'ams, will those doctors and patients have to suffer because my partner, Namjoon Kim, and I, Hoseok Jung, have cracked the secret to the perfect anesthetic. We haven't named it yet, but we're working on it," Hoseok smiled and picked out one small vial from his own briefcase. The vial contained a small pill, ⅛ of the size of a thumbnail.

"But here's the truly special part. Doctors have no need to measure the medicine, they simply need to inject this pill into the patient's bloodstream and the anesthetic reacts on it's own, taking in the person's body type and the activity of the pain receptors in the patient's brain. The idea is that the patient feels absolutely no pain whatsoever, but they don't go so numb that they slip into a coma. Oh, and don't worry, it doesn't mess with your head like laughing gas does. I still regret allowing my sister to take me to get my wisdom teeth removed. I don't even know if she still has the videos on her phone or not."

The professors were indeed very amused and greatly impressed, but this innovation was yet to be tested.

As the professors applauded the presentation, Hoseok strapped in the test subjects, loading a small device in the strap. A small hole hovered above the subject's veins in the wrist, where a needle would inject the pill into the subject's bloodstream. A small flap opened revealing a groove, where Hoseok placed the vial with the pill in it.

When Hoseok came to Jungkook, he could see how nervous he was.

"Don't worry, there's a microscopic pill inside this one that goes into your veins, not this one."

Jungkook chuckled and said, "Well, thanks, that's really reassuring."

The seats were controlled from another room. Hoseok led the professors to that room, enjoying the professors' awe.

The room was fairly empty, except for a control panel at the from of the room and a chair behind the panel. The wall in front of the panel was a gigantic display screen. The screens displayed four different angles of the three test subjects.

Namjoon looked calm, waiting for the test to commence. Jungkook was smiling, though he looked nervous. Jin was looking at his reflection from the small metal part of the chair.

Hoseok presses a button on the panel and leaned into a microphone, "Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3, nod if you can hear me."

All three subjects nodded.

"Good. We're now going to begin the test. Make sure the strap is tightly fastened on your wrist's veins. Nod when you're ready." They nodded, and Hoseok took a deep breath.

"Alright, then. The test will begin in 3…"

Hoseok flipped some switches to ready the straps,

"2…"

The straps were ready,

"1…"

Hoseok pushes the button, and he saw the subjects twitch as the needle injected the pill. Hoseok smiled. _This could work_.

His happiness was short lived, though. Suddenly, the lights went out. Hoseok's smile disappeared. _What's going on?_

Hoseok's heart jumped into his throat as he heard screams from the lab. He took out his phone, turned on the phone's flashlight, and ran to the lab.


	3. Chapter 2: Panic

_**I don't know how to upload pictures hELP**_

Panic. That is what Jungkook felt. Panic. That is what Jin felt. Panic. That is what Namjoon felt.

It was pitch dark. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. He yelled out in surprise and pain. So did Jin and Jungkook. Namjoon had been electrocuted before, but the shock that the strap had just sent out was longer and much more painful than accidentally touching a small exposed wire.

Jungkook's panting was heard, loud and clear.

"I'm sorry, I don't feel so good. Where's Mr. Jung? I want to get out of this," Jungkook tried to pry the strap off, but it was painful.

"It's okay, stay calm." Namjoon said, yet he wasn't sure if he was saying that to Jungkook or himself.

"Are we going to die?! I don't want to die, I'm too young!" Jin said; they could hear him struggling with the strap. A faint light lit up the room. All three whipped their heads to the light. All three gasped when they saw blue light coming out of Jungkook's hands. Jungkook's eyes widened, his breathing getting faster by the second.

"What the hell is going on?" he asked, trembling. Hoseok abruptly burst in, his phone's flashlight flickering around the room. His eyes met Jungkook's hands and widened.

"Hoseok! Get us out of these!" Namjoon said, still feeling as if there was electricity in him. Hoseok rushed to them, and one by one, released each of them. Jungkook was last. As soon as his strap came off, the power came back, the lights turned on and the faint hum of the air conditioner restarted.

Jungkook sprang out of the chair and slowly backed away from the other three. He turned over his trembling hands, which now had electric sparks coming out of his fingertips, wrapping around his hands and up his arms. Tears were flowing from his eyes.

"What's happening to me?" he said, his voice shaking. The professors burst in, all of them immediately focusing on Jungkook and his miraculous hands. Jin stepped forward, slowly, his hands raised as he said, "It's okay, Jungkook, just stay calm."

Jungkook flinched and stepped backwards, shaking his head, "No! Don't get close!"

"Son, calm down."

A voice emerged from the crowd of shocked professors. Namjoon recognized the owner of the voice. It was his former professor, Dr. Minseok Kim. He was a very kind and gentle man, and he was always there for Namjoon when he needed him . Kim, confident, slowly walked towards Jungkook, his voice soft, "It's okay, we don't want to hurt you. Take deep breaths, we'll find a cure for you…"

As he was getting closer, Jungkook was shaking his head and telling Dr. Kim to get away. Dr. Kim held his hand out as he continued towards him. Jungkook frantically warned him, "No, please! You'll get hurt! _Get away!_ "

Jungkook turned his head and outstretched both his hands. A flash of light illuminated the room, causing everyone to cover their eyes. Once the light cleared, a series of gasps and screams filled the room. Namjoon opened his eyes to see the body of Dr. Kim on the floor, his clothes slightly burnt, smoking. His eyes were open, but they were empty. His mouth was open, but he had no words to say. Jungkook was in the corner, his eyes wide with fear as he brought a hand up to his mouth to muffle a sob.

"You murdered him! You murdered Minseok!" a voice called from a collection of professors.

"No, I… I didn't mean t-"

"Didn't mean to? Didn't mean to? The _nerve_ of this boy! Do you realize who this man was?" the infuriated professor said. Namjoon stepped forward, "Now is not the time. Someone call an ambulance, immediately!"

He knew he was giving false hope, but it was hope nonetheless. As Hoseok called 911, everyone crowded around Dr. Kim, some in tears. Namjoon crouched down, taking Dr. Kim's limp wrist in his hand. His heart skipped a beat when he felt a pulse. It was extremely weak, but a pulse nonetheless.

"He's gone!" Jin said. Namjoon shook his head and looked up, "No, he's…"

He realized that Jin wasn't talking about Dr. Kim, but Jungkook. He wasn't there. Neither were the pills.

Namjoon felt a hand on his shoulder He saw Hoseok, his brow wrinkled in worry.

"Go," he said. Namjoon nodded and started towards the door. Jin ran after him and said, "I'm coming with you."

Namjoon shook his head. It was too dangerous. _Poor Jungkook,_ he thought, _he must be so afraid._

Jin kept walking with him. Namjoon raised an eyebrow and said, "I thought I told you no?"

Jin shrugged, "I don't really care. Although, if my hair gets messed up, I'm charging you with my salon fees."

"Look, if you think this is some kind of joke-"

"Not at all! But, how are you going to find him?"

"He can't have gone far, he was here two minutes ago. He's probably still in the building."

Poor Namjoon. He had wasted so much valuable time. Little did he know of Jungkook's true whereabouts.


End file.
